The best new restaurants in NYC in June

From a Scandinavian food hall to a Nashville-style hot-chicken spot, here are NYC’s most exciting new eats

June in New York was pretty mild but the restaurant scene was hot—and we’re not just talking about the fiery fried chicken Carla Hall’s doling out at her Columbia Street debut. There were big-name seafood restaurants, highly anticipated food courts and a food-focused sibling to oenophile favorite Brooklyn Winery. These are the best new restaurants diners can now visit in New York.

Marco Canora is no stranger to getting swept up in a single dish—he spearheaded the late-2014 bone-broth phenomenon with Brodo. Now the Hearth chef–owner is setting his sights on oysters with this bivalve-focused revamp of his East Village wine bar, Fifty Paces. A tribute to turn-of-the-20th-century oyster rooms—Canora diligently studied vintage oyster-house menus at the New York Public Library for the project—the menu serves oysters in seven forms: raw, baked, broiled, fried, pickled, poached and steamed. Those slurpers are dressed with a variety of seaweed: Along dry sherry and spring onions, the poached oysters come with wild Atlantic wakame seaweed, while their steamed brethren are paired with Japanese hijiki.

Brian Leventhal and John Stires are giving their Williamsburg oenophile favorite, Brooklyn Winery, a sister with this skylight-warmed Crown Heights restaurant. To complement the winery’s hyperlocal vin—stuff like a barrel-fermented Finger Lakes riesling and a North Fork red blend, as well as a collection of the winery’s older vintages, all the way back to its first harvest—the team has tapped Bouley alum Michael Gordon to oversee a menu of pairing-ready plates: pickled beets with smoked ricotta and caramelized fennel; crispy brussels sprouts with house-made pastrami and apple-cider caramel; and root-beer–glazed pork ribs with baked beans.

The soul-food debut from Carla Hall—the familiar bespectacled face from Top Chef and The Chew—is an ode to her hometown, Nashville, and its specialty hot chicken. From the kitchen, the TV chef issues out chicken by the piece or the plate with choice of spice level—from a mild Hoot & Honey to the extra-hot Hoot-N-Nannie—bread (buttermilk biscuit, sweet potato roll) and two sides, with options like baked macaroni and cheese, pimiento cheese with Ritz crackers and candied yams. Desserts pull from Hall’s grandmother’s recipes, like banana pudding, while beverages rep Tennessee, from beer (Yazoo Brewing Company, Blackberry Farm Brewery) to sodas (Pure Sodaworks).

After closing its original location in April, the Carroll Gardens seafood spot from Ravi DeRossi (Death & Co., Avant Garden) and Interpol guitarist Daniel Kessler makes the move to Manhattan with this 40-seat Cooper Square revamp. Chef Anthony Mongeluzzi expands the crudo-heavy menu to include more vegetable dishes, like marinated kale with pickled shitake and fresno chilies, and summer greens with roasted beets and pumpkin seeds. And, like at the original, the beverage program still sports some serious bar pedigree: Robert Bohr and Grant Reynolds, the somms behind Charlie Bird and Pasquale Jones, curated the wine list, and acclaimed Amor y Amargo drinks man Sother Teague oversees the cocktails.

Draft lattes, balsamic cocktails and Santa Barbara sea urchin—you can get all of it under one roof at this 25,000-square-foot restaurant-and-market concept taking over the former Barnes & Noble flagship space. The sprawling complex is broken down into various grab-and-go stalls: A third-wave café turned wine bar serving La Colombe brews during the day and vino and snacks in the evening; a raw bar and a charcuterie station slicing house-cured meats and local cheese; and a bakery helmed by pastry chef Thiago Silva (Catch) that offers house-baked breads and a variety of flavored croissants (red velvet, peanut butter and jelly), part of a larger to-come food market stocked with Hawaiian poké, Peruvian rotisserie chicken and New York street food.

A Mediterranean breeze wafts onto the Lower East Side courtesy of this 3,500-square-foot coastal newcomer from nightlife-hospitality pros Corey Lane and Roberto Buchelli inside Hotel on Rivington. Helmed by Vai chef-owner Vincent Chirico, the kitchen turns out modern-Medi plates like summer peaches with burrata and speck, roasted king-oyster mushrooms with white polenta and a soft egg, and a whole American snapper with niçoise olives and leeks. The skylit dining room features an eight-seat crudo station, with options like hamachi with preserved ginger, as well as a cocktail bar with a natural-focused drinks menu that’s overseen by New York Distilling Company’s Allen Katz.

Two food-world buzzwords—poké and bowls—collide at this fast-casual Chinatown concept from Neta alum Michael Jong Lim. Hawaiian poké (raw-fish salad) is zapped with Japanese, Chinese and Korean influences at the six-stool restaurant: The six sea-to-table bowls on offer include a goma-shoyu tuna with garlic chips, a chojang-fired fluke and a sushi-grade Scottish salmon variety with Szechuan-spiced mayonnaise and daikon, and the stock Japanese-rice base can be swapped out for Asian greens.

Australian café culture, all laid-back ease and microfoam flat whites, has been permeating NYC for the past two years, with breezy, buzzy openings like Two Hands and Little Collins following the early trendsetters Toby’s Estate and Bluestone Lane. Joining the growing niche is this Aussie-helmed Noho spot from Cory Lee, Perry Rahbar, Shane Covey and Adam Elzer (Edwin & Neal’s Fish Bar, Upstate Craft Beer & Oyster Bar). At the white-tiled eatery—fitted with chalkboard-painted walls and mixed-wood two tops—find health-minded, all-day plates like green bowls with ancient grains, a grass-fed beef burger topped with beets and pineapple, and the ubiquitous avocado toast, served here with smoked mozzarella and pumpkin seeds.

Despite the gentlemen’s club–worthy name, the buns on offer at this Chelsea newcomer are of the bao and burger variety. And you have to pardon the near-juvenility: Owners Luke Pascal and Sam Weinstein are 21 and 24 years old, respectively. Heirs to Ark Restaurants Corp. (Robert, Bryant Park Grill)—headed by their fathers Vincent Pascal and Michael Weinstein—the young guns are joined by Ark veteran chefs Armando Cortes and Viko Ortega, who oversee a slider lineup that includes a classic caprese trio on a fried green tomato “bun,” fried oysters served po-boy–style with Dijon-horseradish aioli on brioche, and cinnamon-fried chicken with teriyaki hoisin sauce on a steamed bao.

Find 5-star restaurants in NYC

Over the years, Time Out New York has awarded the coveted five stars to just a handful of NYC restaurants, who have all achieved that damn-near-perfect balance of cuisine, decor and innovation. Among this select group are fine-dining titans, long-standing hotel restaurants and international imports running the gamut from Mexican to Korean cuisines. Say hello to the ten 5 star restaurants in NYC, as determined by our critics.

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Burger Burger

Craving a big, juicy burger but don’t feel like going to a greasy drive-thru? Hit up Burger-Burger. Go for the standard cheeseburger ($11), or try one of the deluxe options like the Berta with cheddar, ham and a fried egg ($13.25) or the New Yorker with caramelized onions, mushrooms, swiss cheese and sour cream ($14.50). The health-conscious can opt for a veggie ($12.50), turkey ($12.50) or bison burger ($16) on a whole wheat bun. Of course, they offer fries galore—regular ($5), sweet potato ($6), curly ($7), cheese ($5), chili cheese ($7)—and all kinds of other snacks like mozzarella sticks and jalapeno poppers (both $6). Not into burgers? They also offer New York–style hot dogs ($4.50) and chili cheese dogs ($7). Like any good fast food joint, Burger-Burger also sells milkshakes in vanilla, chocolate, strawberry (each $5) or Reese’s peanut butter cup ($5.50) to round out the meal.